Can someone please let know why my 06' Z won't start. Here's my situation:

I'm storing my Zed over the winter months in my underground parking lot. My plan has been to drive the car on good days - usually around 2 - 3 times per month. That way she's not sitting in one spot for a prolonged period of time and the tires do not develop any soft spots.

Last month I ran into an issue were my car would not start. I called CAA and they came in and gave it a boost. The guy was more impressed with my car and wanted to talk about it that he never performed a battery or alternator test. He suggested that it's not starting was from it sitting for a few weeks. Honestly as soon as I get her turned over all I wanted to do was drive. I then drove the car on a few occasions including a sweet drive on the highway for about 40 minutes. I figured this would be plenty of time for the alternator to charge the battery. Then I went away on business for a 2 weeks and as soon as I got back I had to go and take my baby for a drive. Guess what... she won't start but their is still power to turn on interior lights/radio/ and alarm. Any idea want the problem is.... faulty alternator?????

Thanks for any advise.

 

does it turn over at all?

 

Low battery can still turn on lights but to start the engine the battery needs more cranking amps. could be the alternator too. A local auto parts store have machines that check your alternator...

 

nope... car does not turn over. Just a clicking sound.

 

just clicking sound cause of low batt. might want to get new battery!
same situation happened with my friend's altima! just bad battery!

 

When you turn the key to the on position, what does the voltage meter read?? You might just have a faulty battery. I'd replace that first, batteries are relatively cheap...

 

its because u let ur car sit soo long that ur alarm is draining ur battery over the long periods. if ur gonna let ur car sit i suggest disconnecting ur battery. then u wont have it drained. hope that helps u out.

 

Cold takes a lot out of your battery . If you don't want to replace it you could try this drain your battery all the way down to dead then as soon as it's dead put a charger on it and leave it charge till it's full charge. Reason for doing this is your battery can get a memory in it so it will only charge like half full if at some point in it's life it had this done to it.

 

Fabian: Who's bike is this?

Butch: It's not a bike, baby, it's a chopper.

Fabian: Oh, who's chopper is this?

Butch: Zed's

Fabian: Who's Zed?

Butch: Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

=D

 

A lead acid battery, if left sitting idle with a low power drain such as that from the ECU/alarm will kill it. The battery will 'Sulfate" and will be dead no matter how much you charge it. If you're going to leave it sitting either remove the battery and bring it inside or periodically start it up for 5 or 10 minutes once a week. The only other option is to get a trickle charger and plug it in periodically.

 

Optima FTW

I could leave my system running all night in my truck (2 Kicker L710's w/ 1500w Amp) and still crank up and leave in the morning with the optimas.

 

thanks for the great advise... I'll probably remove the battery and get my dealer to test it. Hopefully it just needs a charge... perhaps if it's faulty then it's still under warranty. Once I get the battery back I'll run the car for 5 - 10 minutes weekly. I should be bringing the car out of storage at the end of the month so the process of running it weekly won't be that painful.

Time to revive ZED!

Long live ZED!